There are a few plants I've babied from infancy to toddler-hood and a few I have just picked up at my local plant store. My avocado and oak trees are the ones I've babied. They've been anticipating spring for a while now and have been antsy for a bigger pot to grow up in. The avocado tree was an experiment that Joanna and I tinkered with last spring by simply buying an avocado from Kroger, taking out the seed, helping it sprout, and then planting it. Talk about fascinating! I had no idea it was that simple. Now, if it ever lives to bear fruit that'll be a miracle, but I certainly have enjoyed the process even if it doesn't. The oak tree came from a small newly sprouted acorn in the Wilbur's back yard about two years ago. It was all but dead several months ago yet I couldn't bear to get rid of it. Then one day I looked down to discover the smallest speck of green that was ever visible to the naked eye--not even the beginnings of a leaf mind you, just a speck--and I said, "Ha, I knew you'd make it!" And so it has. Whether or not it will ever grow grand and stately enough to be considered as a candidate to replace an oaken beam in some parish church or school of learning, well, that too would be a miracle, but I certainly have enjoyed the process.
And then there are my new additions, not nurtured by my own hand until this point. I have no idea where they initially came from, but they have come to rest in my keeping. They have provided me with a bit of instant gratification, something I have not earned but nevertheless get to be the beneficiary of. These newcomers--Celosia, Verbena, Bacopa, Petunia, and Dusty Miller--will require just as much attention as those toddler trees that have been with me so long. But isn't that just like spring to be both a continual reminder of the old and yet be a provision of hope with all things new. Who knows what will become of this newness, but I certainly am enjoying the process.
